My Day with Film (Tuesday, January 3rd, 2017)

Tuesday 1/3/17

Dear Diary,

It's been a hot minute since I've written. Christmas is big in my house, and then we left town the next day to visit family in Pennsylvania. After returning home it was nice to just sloth around for a few days, but now it's a new year packed with fresh opportunities for success! As some idiot said, "It's gonna be 'uge."

Okay, well, the first thing I want to get off my chest is my frustration with "rental copies" of home media. I mean, I suppose I understand the logic behind "rental copies." If you were given all the content with a $2 rental, literally nobody would ever buy movies for their personal collection ever again. Warehouses would be piled floor to ceiling with unsold Blu-rays. I get it, but that doesn't make it any less shitty for the consumer looking to save a buck.

I went down to Redbox today to pick up the piss-poor rehash of Blair Witch. That movie is such a letdown, but when I heard that Adam Wingard and Simon Barrett were doing a commentary and an hour of featurettes, my curiosity was piqued. Wingard and Barrett are known for putting together stellar supplemental material for their films, and with so many secrets and mysteries left unresolved in the film, I had to get my hands on the Blu-ray in order to gain some sense of closure. I step up to the kiosk, hand over my $2 plus tax, and head home to my player just to make sure the bonuses are there and that I don't have to spend full-price to get the closure I so desperately have been seeking.

Imagine my frustration when I scroll through the menu to "Special Features," and all that's listed is a collection of trailers marked "Also from Lionsgate" and a tab for "Bookmarks," which are spots in the film that you can mark and go back to at any time without scrubbing through scene selections. Futility be damned, I cursed Lionsgate in that moment. "Now I have to go spend my hard-earned money on your garbage film because I care too much about movies and figuring out the end of the story," I thought to myself. It comes as little consolation that Target is currently running a 15% off coupon through their Cartwheel mobile app, which I highly encourage everyone to download.

Seriously, do not go shopping at Target again until you download Cartwheel. It will change your life.

So now I have Blair Witch on my shelf. I didn't want it to be this way. I could've spent the money on the far-superior Ouija: Origin of Evil in a couple weeks, yet here we are. I'm sure I'll have some thoughts on the bonus material later this week after I watch everything. Don't let me down again, Wingard! 

Lastly, Dr. Hollyfield recommended I watch Happy Birthday to Me in honor of my birthday yesterday. It's available on Shudder, so I'll be watching that tonight. 

Until next time,

BC

My Day with Film (Tuesday, 11/29/2016)

I decided today to start a daily diary with my interactions with film. I'm not sure exactly what it will be aside from a little insight into how my warped mind works when it comes to movies on a daily basis. I don't have time to cover stories like these all the time on my podcast, so I thought I'd just write everything down. I hope you'll stick with me and continue to listen to The Reel Movies Podcast and continue to read this blog. So here goes:


Tuesday, 11/29/16

Dear Diary,

Today is Tuesday, which means it's another week with more new releases on home video. I've been doing well recently with saving some money. Christmas gifts for the family are all pretty much set; now I'm saving for my best friend's bachelor party next year. Overall I've been trying to reduce the number of Blu-rays I buy, particularly at release day prices. I have a collecting problem that I'm slowly getting under control. I didn't go nuts with Barnes & Noble's 50% off Criterion November sale like I usually do, and I also didn't buy any movies on Black Friday this year, which is extremely uncharacteristic of me.

No, I had to wait until literally the day after all the damn sales ended so that I could get DON'T BREATHE and PETE'S DRAGON - two of my favorite films of 2016. FML!

I'm ecstatic to have them in my collection, but the whole time I was in Target today, I was thinking "These are probably going to be on Netflix or Hulu or Crackle someday, and if they aren't these Blu-rays will come down in price another day. You don't need them today." Then my inner Kermit the Frog took over.

"Disney Blu-rays very rarely, if ever, go on sale after release day. You might as well jump on it now. And you loved DON'T BREATHE! To sweeten the deal, both movies have a director's commentary! You can't beat that!" 

I hate you, Kermit.

I loved both of these films when I saw them in theaters this year. I reviewed both on the blog a couple of months ago. They're for completely different audiences, but I'd recommend them to anyone in those target audiences. I'm excited to check out the bonus features on each disc. 

Mark these famous last words - PETE'S DRAGON and DON'T BREATHE will be the last two Blu-rays to go on my shelf between now and Christmas Day. 

It's the middle of the afternoon on Tuesday, and I'm not sure what the rest of the day in cinema will hold. I just reviewed THE LOVE WITCH, and I laughed to myself that I reviewed a '60s inspired pulp melodrama before DOCTOR STRANGE, MOANA or FANTASTIC BEASTS. All great movies, by the way. I wanted to watch my Criterion disc of Terence Malick's THE NEW WORLD over Thanksgiving because when else would you watch Terence Malick's THE NEW WORLD? I didn't get to do that over the holiday, so I'll try to knock that out tonight. Ah, but I haven't watched this week's episodes of WESTWORLD or THE WALKING DEAD yet. And I still have several discs at home I haven't popped in yet, including Criterion's THE APU TRILOGY which I got for Christmas last year. Not to mention everything in my Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, HBO and Crackle queues. There simply aren't enough hours in the day. I feel slightly overwhelmed by the amount of content I have to get through and eventually revisit, but I wouldn't have it any other way. 

Until tomorrow.

BC